5 Reasons Some Were Unaware Of One Of The Biggest Weather Disasters Since Sandy

The American Red Cross tweeted that they were responding to the most significant weather disaster, the Louisiana flooding, since Hurricane Sandy. The area is in a state of emergency and some reports say hundreds of thousands people have lost everything. Reports are also surfacing of overtopped levees. Yet many people were not aware of it at all, partially aware of it or didn't appreciate the magnitude of the event. It is also far down the page on many news sites today. This event is approaching the scale of disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Sandy. In my opinion, these events were treated differently in terms of coverage and how the public perceived them. Herein I discuss five possible reasons.

Tracy Thornton walks to his house through a flooded neighborhood August 15, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.Floods ravaged the US state of Louisiana. Photo credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images.

1) It didn't have a name. I have written on this issue before. During the South Carolina Floods of 2015 meteorologists were more concerned about the weather system that would produce record flooding but there was an inordinate amount of focus on Hurricane Joaquin that was never a threat to land. I wrote in FORBES on October 1st, 2015,

Irrespective of where Joaquin goes, parts of the South and East Coast of the United States from the Carolinas to the Northeast will see a significant and dangerous rainfall event in one of the most urbanized regions of the country.

A named storm probably would have garnered more attention, but I question if people would have responded any differently. People don't respond to a tropical depression or weak tropical storm the way they do a major hurricane.

Johnson, also a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, was documenting frequently in social media the unfolding tragedy in his hometown. Earlier this year I also wrote about Tropical Storm Bonnie. Dr. Stephanie Zick, a professor and hurricane expert at Virginia Tech, told me,

I noticed that hashtags associated w/ Tropical Depression and Invest barely registered on my trends. BUT as soon as it (Bonnie) became a TS, it was #1!

2) A heavy news cycle. As a meteorologist I knew pretty early that the Louisiana floods were an emerging disaster. However I perceived from my social media page that many people didn't have any idea of the scale of the Louisiana floods. I kept seeing posts like, "Wow, I didn't even know this was going on" or "The only reason I knew anything about this was because of your posts or a friend with family in the region." I even started discussions in social media about whether this event was being under-reported. To be fair, some outlets were covering the story (but mostly in smaller segments and not at the sustained magnitude of what an approaching category 5 storm would be). Our show Weather Geeks (with the Hurricane Center Director as guest) was preempted on the Weather Channel. This morning I notice that the Dallas Morning News published an article discussing how the political cycle and civil unrest in Milwaukee dominated the news cycle. I would argue that Olympic coverage was also a factor. I wonder if more people knew that an Olympic swimmer was robbed in Rio than that thousands of people were fleeing or losing their homes from flooding. Some colleagues have even questioned whether the East coast media bias muted coverage. Adam Olivier, a meteorologist at
Fox 10 News, tweeted,

Had this happened in Atlanta or New York City, there would've been a lot more coverage.

3) "Meh, it's just a flood." I think people see floods as something familiar. Flooding happens around us more often than an EF-5 tornado or a category 4 hurricane. We see flooded streets or landscapes. Such familiarity may shape perception of risk. The National Weather Service continually reminds us that flooding and heat are the two deadliest weather events each year, but they are not as telegenic and "awe-inspiring" as a tornado or hurricane. When is the last time you saw a station break into television programming for a heat advisory or flood watch?

U.S. weather fatalities. Source: National Weather Service.

4) Flood fatigue. The Ellicott City, Maryland floods (a smaller scale but devastating event) recently happened, and there have been numerous high-impact flood events over the past several years in the United States. I cannot help but wonder if flood or disaster fatigue is setting in for the public and the media.

5) Timing. The Louisiana flooding evolved over the weekend. Many media colleagues told me that newsrooms are not fully staffed on the weekends. I have been in enough media spaces to have observed this for myself too. Unfortunately mother nature doesn't work on a work week or 9-to-5 schedule.